Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) are a valuable tool in Wokingham’s weapons to fight crime and should not be scrapped, according to the borough’s top cop.

Home secretary Theresa May has announced ASBOs are under review and could be scrapped in the future after labelling them “too complex and bureaucratic”.

However, Chief Inspector Denise Blackburn, commander of Wokingham police, says the borough has used ASBOs sparingly in cases where officers and Wokingham Borough Council believe they can make a difference.

Meanwhile, the borough’s work to reduce anti-social behaviour using ASBOs, along with Operation Lion Cub – a targeted police operation – and Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) has proved a success.

The latest figures for reports of “personal” anti-social behaviour, which includes issues such as nuisance neighbours, harassment and fear of violence, show the number of incidents dropped by five per cent in the period between April 1 and July 21 this year compared to the same time last year.

For “community” anti-social behaviour, which includes graffiti and criminal damage, there was a 23 per cent reduction in reports compared to the previous year.

There are six ASBOs active in the borough and the most orders Wokingham has had active in the past is seven.

Jenny Bennett, community safety operations manager at the council, said: “Because we use them in appropriate circumstances where we know it would be effective it gives us an opportunity to control that behaviour.”

Ch Insp Blackburn said: “We do not overuse the ASBO. There will always be someone that will breach their ASBO, but at least it gives us an opportunity to have control of the behaviour.”

Mrs Bennett added ASBOs can work to prevent crimes as well as manage behaviour, as two youths in Wokingham who are subject to ASBOs have been banned from associating in public as they have been known to offend when together.

One of the borough’s most publicised and well-known subjects of an ASBO is Stephen Harwood, formerly of Finchampstead and known locally as Steve the Tramp.

Although Mr Harwood, whose ASBO prevented him from acting anti-socially outside Wokingham railway station and at California Crossroads, has previously been imprisoned for frequent breaches of the ASBO he has not been arrested for breaches in several months.

Other tools such as Acceptable Behaviour Contracts, which see people behind persistent nuisance behaviour sign an agreement with police to abide by certain rules to solve the problem, are also being used. This may include specific places where they will not act in an anti-social way.

The council and police have been working with youths in Twyford, where there has been a spike in the number of anti-social incidents reported, including youths riding on mini-mopeds along roads and in parks and abusive shouting at Twyford railway station.

Police are talking to five sets of parents regarding behaviour of their children and section 59 orders, which warn the person their bike will be seized if they are caught riding it in public again, have been issued to several people.

Operation Lion Cub is an ongoing operation, which was launched in September last year, to curtail anti-social behaviour in the borough.

New figures show the number of repeat victims of anti-social behaviour and repeat locations for reports is the lowest in the force area.

The number of repeat callers reporting anti-social behaviour in the last three months in Wokingham was 11 people, while in Bracknell this figure was 12, in Reading it was 37 and in West Berkshire this was 21.